The Prayer Beads
by lilkoisuru
Summary: Before he can finish his statement, the beads are gone from his neck. Surprised and confused, he stares into Kagome’s tear-filled eyes. No longer able to control his efforts to hold back his feelings, the hanyou takes Kagome gently into his arms... R


The Prayer Beads  
  
One-shot story  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inu-yasha or Kagome. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Thank you. Read on.  
  
BEE'S NOTE: This is a one-shot fan fiction, so do not expect any updates, unless I am urged on. A little birdie told me that prayer beads are around Inu-yasha's neck, not a rosary. Gomen for the confusion.  
  
Thanks for your time, readers!  
  
On with the story!  
  
********************  
  
The Prayer Beads  
  
Inu-yasha takes her in his arms slowly and nervously. The silent hanyou stares fiercely with eyes of sadness and newly-confessed love. The air fills with intensity much like the moment before lightning strikes, or before an amazing kiss.  
  
Kagome blushes. She can hear him trembling under his breath. Abruptly a thought strikes her. Is this is how he felt the moment before he kissed Kikyo for the first time? She realizes that she herself is wavering. She is just as nervous as he is--not with anticipation, but self-doubt.  
  
Now he feels the same about her as she now feels about him. But how? How did he change his feelings from that of the dead, soul-plundering miko to herself? Kikyo was so much taller, graceful, and beautiful... technically. And she did have him first.   
  
A continuous string of clouds pregnant with rain begins to accumulate.  
  
Kagome could not help but feel that perhaps she really was merely a second incarnate, nothing special or original. She constantly insisted that she was "Ka-go-me," and not Kikyo. The utter fact that Inu-yasha constantly rolled over for that manipulative ghost caused Kagome some restless doubt in herself and in what she really was to him.  
  
The only thing she had had over him was the "osuwari" spell. That was the only thing she had differently from Kikyo and her "charms of hell." And now that is over. What she had is now in her hand, swaying in the wind. She has nothing--is nothing.  
  
The sky darkens.  
  
But there they were, so close together.   
  
She feels the wind sway the prayer-bead necklace that is dangling from her left hand, and it brings lost tears to her eyes.  
  
One moment earlier would have shown them together, not arm in arm, but face to face, routinely arguing.  
  
-*- Flashback -*-  
  
"You wouldn't understand!" Inu-yasha howls.  
  
She turns her face from his abruptly and shouts, "And why wouldn't I? Just because I'm a useless human? I've lost a lot, too, because of this, you know! You're the one who wouldn't understand!"  
  
Thunder rumbles distantly, though the zenith of the firmament is clear.  
  
"Stop turning this around on me! You lost the pack! And you should remember where we were before we fled, you idiot!" he exclaims angrily.  
  
"I am not an idiot!" Kagome screams as a violent impact of thunder hits the terrain. "Why don't you go take a 'SIT'!"  
  
*SLAM!*   
  
As the feeling returns to his body, he notices she is stomping off. He promptly leaps in front of her, causing her to stop.  
  
He continues, miffed, "You and that damn 'osuwari' spell. I can't even say what I want anymore because you're always sitting me!" He grabs her arm as she begins to stomp off again. "If only you didn't leave your backpack back there we wouldn't even be in this mess! For all we know, the shards could be long gone by now!"  
  
A menacing wind starts to pick up.  
  
She pulls against him, and screams, "How was I supposed to know that you'd snatch me up and run off with me before I had a chance to grab my things?!"  
  
In the sky the clouds strain against the wind, twisting, churning, and eddying into the center of the sky.  
  
"Well, excuse me for not wanting those jackal youkai to eat you! Boy, what an ass am I for wanting to protect you and for loving you!" He ends this statement abruptly. He curses under his breath for accidentally letting his passion spill out.  
  
Kagome ceases to strain against his grasp. "You... you... love me?"  
  
"No..."  
  
"Then... you don't love me."  
  
"No... Yes! I... don't know... Stop changing the subject, wench! And don't you 'sit' me again!"  
  
She remains silent.  
  
The wind softens.  
  
"...."  
  
The air becomes serene. The shadows around Kagome and Inu-yasha sharpen from the dull of the gathering thunderheads.  
  
"K-Kagome?"  
  
She looks up at him.  
  
"If it would make you feel better, you can 'sit' me."  
  
"No, it wouldn't. It would never make me feel better."  
  
He gasps as she brings her hands up around his neck. "W-What are you--?"  
  
Before he can finish his statement, the beads are gone from his neck. Surprised and confused, he stares into Kagome's tear-filled eyes. No longer able to control his efforts to hold back his feelings, the hanyou takes Kagome gently into his arms.  
  
-*- End of Flashback -*-  
  
Sprinkling rain filters down to the earth.  
  
Kagome wipes away her fleeing tears.  
  
"Why are you crying?" Inu-yasha entreats.  
  
Kagome's mind escapes all questions, and is interrupted with one thought: escape.  
  
Lightning flashes.  
  
She frees herself from his hold and runs as fast as she can. She does not care if he follows her. All she knows is that she cannot go through with this with him if she had any such doubt in herself.   
  
Inu-yasha recovers from her sudden departure; he begins pursuit.  
  
Kagome hears his hurried footsteps behind her. She knows he can run much faster than she is able, but she still does not care.   
  
With the string of beads still in her hand, she continues running. The winds whip the hair around her face; the rain and her unchecked tears blind her vision.  
  
Suddenly she finds herself falling; her foot has caught on something. She lands with a painful thud. A bolt of lightning strikes a nearby tree. When she recovers--from her fall and from the slash of the fire god--she turns to see what burden is on her foot. It is her pack. Lifting it up she finds she cannot run; her ankle attacks her now with throbbing pain.  
  
Even if she was able to continue to run, she could not now. She looks up and sees Inu-yasha fly above her. She bows her head and closes her eyes remorsefully; the pain, she observes, is much like how her heart is now feeling.  
  
Thunder rumbles gravely.   
  
Inu-yasha is now standing before her. As he was pursuing her, he had been straining against himself to scream at her for fleeing from him when he had just professed his feelings--a difficult thing for him to do. His struggle vanishes immediately when he saw her fall so violently, and so close to the now-smoldering tree.  
  
He bends down in front of Kagome, and utters, "Are you okay?" The delicate nuances in his own voice surprise him.  
  
Hearing the care in his voice, she weakens her grasp on her self-control. With all instinct to run long gone, Kagome falls at his feet, and simply sobs. Rain pours, but lightning no longer menaces the sky.  
  
Never knowing what to do with these situations, Inu-yasha quietly crouches down over the crying girl. He nervously moves the offending backpack aside, and takes her rain-soaked ankle into his hand.  
  
"This may hurt. I'm sorry."  
  
He feels the joint timidly with a clawed finger. He sighs a little, and looks at Kagome's tear-stained face. "It's okay. It's only bruised. There is no sprain."  
  
Not knowing what to say, she is instantly lost in his eyes--his perfect, golden eyes. "Thank you," she says in a tone almost inaudible to human ears.  
  
Inu-yasha receives the humble whisper with a smile.  
  
His smile comforts her, and she apologizes for running from him with another innocent tear and a dawning smile.   
  
In his eyes she discovers he sees her for her, not for a long-lost priestess.  
  
And he witnesses through her eyes that she will never run away again.  
  
The sky suddenly blazes with a new day, conquering the storm, as Kagome and Inu-yasha melt into each other's arms, and forgive each other with a sweet and perfect kiss.  
  
********************  
  
End One-shot Story  
  
BEE'S COMMENTS:  
  
lilkoisuru: Read and review if you wish.  
  
Inu-yasha: Yeah, "if you wish." :: begins to slip Tetsusaiga from its sheath. ::  
  
lilkoisuru: :: gives Inu-yasha a glance that says "Just try it." :: flexes her claws. ::  
  
Inu-yasha: Keh!  
  
lilkoisuru: Again, read and review, if you have time! It would be much appreciated. Right, Inu-yasha?  
  
Inu-yasha: Whatever. 


End file.
